Akua

Avatar of Anansi

Over a decade ago, Akua Noble was a brilliant and mischievous kid growing up in a poor neighbourhood. As an illegal immigrant to the City, she had to take care of herself and her young twin brothers by making money under the table. She began to use her talent for mechanics to soup up unusual cars for drag races, gaining a reputation in the racer circles as the go-to guy for that something extra.
Not long thereafter, one of Akua’s brothers fell ill. While her other brother tended to him, it fell to Akua to get his medicine, but that required a lot more money than she had. Out of options, Akua decided to enter one of the biggest drag races herself. As she pulled up in her car, Akua looked into the car on the left and saw a bald man with a skull painted on his face grinning back at her with coal-black eyes. The flags dropped down and the cars took off. Skullhead in the lead, Akua took off a split second later when suddenly something strange happened. The faint intuition that had always guided her mechanical manipulations, electronic modifications, and practical pranks suddenly amplified into a thundering voice, a voice that spoke to her.
The voice told Akua that the man in the car was Death’s Emissary who has come to take her brother. If he, Anansi, were allowed to live through Akua, all will be well. Akua knew she had already consented. As if in a dream, she recalled tampering with the Skullhead’s engine before the race.
Gas started to leak out of the Skullhead’s smoking car and it slowed down. Akua Anansi crossed the finish line. As Skullhead and his gang rushed up to Akua, they were tripped by invisible hands. Akua escaped with the money and bought the medicine for her brother.
Skullhead, as it turned out, was the young Ajani Khamisi. In the following years, as both parties grew strong and powerful, Khamisi continued to hunt for the brother he failed to collect while Akua repeatedly fooled him. But the stronger Khamisi’s master, Death, became, the harder it was to evade Khamisi and the greater the sacrifices Akua had to make to succeed. Finally, Akua devised the ultimate act of trickery, one which would forever ensure the safety of her family: she would hide her sisters even from herself so that they could get on with their lives and no one would ever bother them again.
As she bid her sisters farewell for the last time, Akua’s responsibilities and bonds evaporated. She was now a footloose trickster, ready to roam the City, trick whoever comes in her path and tell stories, tell countless stories. Akua was all but gone; Anansi was reborn. But sometimes she still wonders if she could outsmart her old self and find her hidden brothers again. So far, she hasn’t tried once.